With wit, erudition and venom, Apollinaire concocts a Rabelaisian Parallel universe and slyly tells his own life story, from illegitimate birth to literary fame in the process. The novella recounts the life and death of Croniamantal, whose birth is 'saluted' by the Eiffel Tower's 'beautiful erection,' who rises through the Parisian literary world to proclaim himself 'the greatest of living poets' and who is promptly torn to pieces by a mob.